We rose early to commence the ascent. It is not difficult unless the camels are very heavily laden; but we did not reach the Castle of Gharian until three in the afternoon. Our caravan dotted with groups of various outline and colour the slopes of the spur, up the side of which the track wound, in a very picturesque manner. Sometimes the foremost camels stood still and complained; and then there was a half-halt throughout the whole long line. The drivers plied the stick pretty freely on the gaunt flanks of their beasts; the cry of "_Isa! Isa!_" resounded in irregular chorus; pebbles and stones came leaping down at the steep parts. As we rose over the brown slopes, the thin forests of olive-trees partly covering the undulating plateau beyond, with fields of barley and wheat here and there, gladdened our eyes, and contrasted well with the hungry country we had left in the rear. The castle, sufficiently picturesque in structure, is placed over a deep ravine, but is commanded by the mountain behind. We turned back on nearing it, and beheld the plain we had traversed appearing like the sea enveloped in mist and cloud. In fine weather the minarets of Tripoli can be seen, but now the northern horizon faded off in haze. On either hand the steep declivities of the hills presented a wall-like surface, here and there battered into breaches, from out of which burst little tufts of green, revealing the presence of springs. There are 200 troops stationed at the castle under Colonel Saleh, to whom we paid an official visit; as also to the Kaïd of Gharian. In both cases we were hospitably treated to pipes, coffee, and lemonade. In this canton are said to be the fanciful number of "one hundred and one" Arab districts, inhabited by the Troglodytes. All the villages, indeed, hereabouts, are underground: not a building is to be seen above, except at wide intervals an old miserable, crumbling, Arab fort. The people are easily kept in order by the summary Turkish method of proceeding; for they are entirely disarmed, and matchlocks, powder and ball, are contraband articles. The first word of an Oriental tax-gatherer is "Pay!" and the second is "Kill!" The outset of a journey in the East is usually employed in finding out the vices of one's servants. Their virtues, I suppose, become manifest afterwards. We were on the point of sending our chaouch back from Gharian for dishonesty; but as we reflected that any substitute might be still worse, we passed over the robbery of our barley, and merely determined to keep a good look-out. This worthy, though useful in his sphere, often, as I had anticipated, proved a sad annoyance to us. When he seemed to refrain from cheating and stealing, he rendered our lives troublesome by constant quarrellings and rows--he and his fellow attached to my German companions--_Arcades ambo!_